There’s no dearth of awesome well-ridden bicycles that roll their way through our doors looking for much needed tending to. Sure there’s a few common brands and styles of bike, but occasionally you get a rare gem like this one.

You may remember our post about the vintage Diamondback we have on sale at the shop. This Rock Hopper is of the same generation of machines. And yes, despite it’s apparent condition we still love the chance to work on such a fine piece of equipment. Why? Because they were built to last.

This makes repairs just that much easier. Any long-neglected piece of equipment with a little bit of tinkering will spring back to life. For instance, the index shifter for the rear derailleur had lost its dust cap ages ago and the mechanism had been left to rust. When we started in on it the thing could barely twist enough to cover shifting between two gears. A little reassembly and some grease and voila! It returned from the dead.

And the funny thing is, this chromo Rock Hopper was Specialized’s “younger brother” model to the higher end Stump Jumper. Makes no difference though as quality begets itself and regardless of it being the pared down offering, still manages to work, 30 years later on a tour around the world.

Which at the end of the day, for our mechanics is likely our favorite thing. You don’t often get to see the relationship with someone and their beloved bike. However, with this degree of use we get a good feel for all the intimacies a person has had in exploring the world on their favorite ride.